The Remaining Shadow

Our age has sought to bring equality to the fore as no age before it. We have sought out shadows and fought to bring light. We have set up models, glorified leaders, and proclaimed our heroes.

One shadow still remains; the shadow that covers every human soul and is in need of healing: the shadow of woundedness.

Woundedness doesn’t speak to glory, but rather to struggle. Yet, in all the ways that we are similar, nothing unites us more than that fact that each of us has been wounded. Perhaps that is why many of us find Jesus so attractive.  He did not come as the sage of the ages, the invincible hero, or the radical leader of a new world order. He came as the wounded healer.

But what are those wounds? For some of us, it is hurtful events in life, betrayals of those who should have loved us, forgetfulness of those who call themselves our friends.

I believe that those wounds are more able to heal than the ones we forget. I am reminded in Sirach 24:21 of those wounds, as it says You who eat of me will hunger still, you who drink of me will thirst for me. It is as if we are being told that no matter what we accomplish, we will still have needs, we will still have emptiness, we will still want. And in our attempts to satisfy those wants, we often compromise. We often settle for the lesser satisfaction rather than find the deeper fulfillment. I believe it is this compromise that makes up most of our woundedness.

I believe when we remember this fact, we bring about a true equality. That is because, such honesty builds a true community, one that has truth because it identifies with what is the deepest commonality among us. I believe that only when we remember our woundedness can we truly stand together. Because when I remember this wound within myself, caused by my own decisions, can I have the understanding and compassion that accepts another's wounds. Only then does tolerance turn into empathy and acceptance of another. Only when I am aware of my own fragility will I allow another to have theirs.

Do I want to see?

By Sr. Mary Grace Thul, OP

That I may see. It was a simple request, and Mark's gospel chapter ten tells us it was the only request made by Bartimaeus.

It makes me look at my requests. I have prayed to "see", but am I ready for what may be revealed?

Imagine what Bartimaeus saw...a whole  new world. And his new sight did not just bring him joy, it prompted him to give back. For the gospel tells us that when he gained his sight, he then followed Jesus. He accepted what he saw.

That could not be said about Jesus dicsiples who had physical sight. They were always tyring to get Jesus to match their concept of what the messiah should be: restore Jerusalem to its pristine power and glory; sit them one on his right and one on his left; let them have power over demons; call down God's wrath on those who did not accept their message.

Even at the last supper, in John 14: 5 when Jesus invited them to follow him, they said, "We do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?" And Jesus responded, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me?" (Jn 14: 9)

I wonder which disciple I am like: Bartimaeus, willing to see for real and follow, or the disciples, following but not seeing, because I want Jesus to match what I think he should be like.